New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-19
STOCKTON'S TALES.
TIE BEEMAN OF ORN AND OTHER FASCiF "a
TALES. By FRANK r. STOCKTON. IZmo' PIP A''
Charles scribner's Sons.


rag 1EEMAN OF oHN Asp OTHER Iamd DC fes
Charles Scribpers Sons
The stories which have been gatherd under the
general title OF fanciful tales In Mr. otocRtoh
latest volume seem to indicate strain'ng OF the
pecu,iar humor which character,zes the aithor
earlier work. There remains in most OF them
enough of the familiar oddly to distinguish them
from all contemporary work, but the machinery
seems to crcak and here AMI there one gets
glimpse of its working, which Is apt to have
n misunderstanding effect. few OF the stories
have an apparent purpose; that Is to say, they
suggest some trite moral. Most of them, however,
are made to depend almost entirely upon incon-
gruities and unexpected fantasies, and as the
narrative is generally both slight and meaning
less the impression conveyed is that of rather
forced efforts at funniness. The extreme sim
Ilieity and sobriety with which Mr.. Stockton
tells the most fantastical, grotesque and rldicu-
lous stories are no doubt accountable 1or much
of the fascination which his manner exercises
That peculiarity is no less marked in
the new volume than in Its predecessors
but il is not so effective, because
IL is not reinforced by humor in the cohcep'
tion Take for example the story or Inc
Griffin and tn, Minor Canon" The ute Is
considerably droller than the tale itself. Inc
utterly incongruoas juxtapositon ticlSes the fancy
rs did Lewis CAROLS similar bracketlns OF
"1he Walrus and tie Carpenter" But when
III. stor, is read there is little bumor in It,
4 griffin hears that q sculptor has adorned q
church with piece of statuary representing him.
the griffin. He makes journey to see IT,
frightens all the townsfolll. meets the Mihor
Canon becomes attached to him, and after some
not very interesting incidents carries away his
Ifu md
previously herriendiug the Minor Canon. Now
this is not funny at all. 1t is indeed hardly
coherent enough to show reason for existence.
The bumor of it is diluted u what homGopathists
woull dcnominate the thousandth potency. The
griffin is not at all amusing, neither is the Minor
Canon, nor their relations, what comes OF
their relations. We should suppose that II Mr..
Stockton ever told such a story to q group OF
children as a fairy tale they would be very
apt to vote it stupid.
1.-The Bee Man of Orn7 is perhaps a little
more interesting because it contains queerer
WITNESSES and absurdites But the central idea
here also is so attenuated as to be all but lmper
ceptblc. In "Old Pipes and the Dryad" the
authors fancy seems to have play more freely,
and the conception is not without grace and
pleasantneSs while the absence of bizarre ana
grotesQue figures is more than compensated by
the introduction of as near an approach to the
poetlcal as Mr.. Stockton permits himself.
That he might 60 so much further in this direc-
ton without doing worse is shown plainly enough
by his present essay Christmas Before Last,
Or the Island of the Fragile Palm" is, we think,
the best OF the stories. 1t has more unstrained
humor about it, and is marked by one of the
authors pleasantcst characteristics the habit of
describing the most widely impossible things and
doings with an fectation of scientific exactness
and scrupulous simplicity of diction Nothing
in lis work is so cal tivating as this, and there
are few better examples of it than the plan OF
the boy who had studied mechanics for getting at
the fruit of the Fragile Palm There is great deal
of fun. too in the conception of Captain Coveios,
the old merchant skipper whose stanch ship, the
Horn O. FlanU," goes better stern first than
bow first; WHO thinks nothing of interrupting
voyage to SPEND several months cruising for an
unknown island that he may return to their
homes a boatfnl of truant schoolboys; and who
so fond of comfort that he had his poop
carpeted at sea. The encounter with the pirates
and the ESCAPE of the Horn O. Plentys company
from these marauders are also very neatly done
and in Mr. StocxtOns best manner. Prince
IIassak's March" has some elements of drollery
in it, but its oddities hardly genuine and
do not seem TO have been arrived at spontaneously.
On the whole the volume is somewhat disappont-
ing and indicates the tendency to exhaustion
which experiment in new and not congenial
field is sure to accentuate. In the line which he
has made his there is however, no reason
why Mr.. Stockton should not score many more
successes.